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The first thing to remember when you set out to clean smoke-damaged painted Sheetrock -- a brand name for drywall -- is that there is a chance you won't be successful. Smoke is a combination of soot and oily tars that can act like a coat of paint. If your cleaning efforts aren't enough to remove the stains, they will at least prepare the wall for the paint it will take to hide them.

Before You Wash

If you have extensive smoke damage on your painted drywall, you must remove loose, sooty material before you try to wash way the stain. If you wet the loose material down with water and rub it, you'll likely simply smear it on the wall. The Los Angeles County Health Department recommends wiping off the soot with a dry chemical sponge, which you can buy at a hardware store. Be sure to ventilate the area and wear a dust mask to ensure you don't inhale the soot as you're cleaning it.

Clean With a Strong Detergent

The next step in the cleaning process is to wash the walls with a strongly alkaline detergent, and trisodium phosphate is one of the strongest detergents available. Make a solution consisting of a gallon of warm water and a tablespoon of TSP; then put on some rubber gloves and goggles: The solution is highly irritating to skin and eyes. Wash with a sponge, applying the cleaning solution generously; you'll probably want to cover the floor with plastic to protect it from runoff. Besides cleaning soot, TSP also removes the tarry deposits from cigarette smoke stains.

Odor Control

Smoky deposits, especially those from cigarettes, have an unpleasant odor that lingers even after the stains are gone. Vinegar, baking soda, charcoal and citrus fruit peels are among the remedies for these types of deposits. Spray a 1-to-1 solution of vinegar and water on the walls and wipe them down with a rag, or place bowls of baking soda, charcoal or citrus fruit peels in the rooms in which you notice the odor. It's also important to increase ventilation in these rooms, either by opening windows or creating a cross-draft with a fan.

When Painting Becomes Necessary

In some cases, you may not be able to remove a smoke stain by washing with a detergent. If the wall has a texture, the tarry deposits may simply be out of the reach of your scrubber, and if the wall has a matte finish, the stain may bond so closely with the paint that you can't remove one without removing the other. If it becomes necessary to paint over a smoke stain, be sure to prime first and use a stain-blocking primer -- not regular drywall primer. A stain-blocking primer has a high solids content, which is needed to prevent the stain from bleeding through and discoloring the paint job.

About the Author

Chris Deziel has a bachelor's degree in physics and a master's degree in humanities. Besides having an abiding interest in popular science, Deziel has been active in the building and home design trades since 1975. As a landscape builder, he helped establish two gardening companies.